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Sunday, January 24, 2010

O.N.E. Coconut Water with Mango

It's a cool, overcast day as I write this. Yes, we have them even here in sunny Southern California. However, I am kinda wishing that I was sitting on a sunny beach with a girly, fruity drink in my hand (the kind I normally do not drink).

Since I (sadly) will not be doing that anytime soon, I'm going to pretend that I am on a white sand beach while drinking this mango flavored coconut water. And yes, those of you who pay attention to my ramblings probably are well aware that I am on record as hating coconut. And I do. But I don't mind coconut flavor -- it's mostly the texture I dislike.

I reviewed the Guava flavored O.N.E. about a month ago, and was surprised at how refreshing I found it. It also passed the taste test of my best friend -- who shall officially be known as Mr. X, simply because he thinks it sounds cool who grew up in the islands. (It's a long story; just read the first review.) So once again, I made him my guinea pig...I mean guest reviewer.

Mr. X, incidentally, can always pick the most perfectly ripe mango in the bin. I couldn't pick one if my life depended on it, but he can walk to an enormous display of mangoes and pick up a perfect one on the first try. And he loves mango everything, so I thought this drink might be the drink of his dreams.

Inside the spiffy grownup juice box looking Tetra-Pak lurks a bright orange/yellow juice/water. It smells like mango puree -- and I mean that in a good way.

The first sip is a little on the salty side. The mango tastes strong but muted at the same time...weird and contradictory description, I know. It reminded more of mango leather than, say, freshly sliced mango. It doesn't taste artificial in any way, but it doesn't have that brightness that a really good cheek of cold, ripe mango has. (Yes, mango slices are called "cheeks." Like butt cheeks, OK?)

The coconut water itself doesn't really come through as much as it seemed to in the guava version. It's hiding in the background and you can only faintly taste it.

Mr. X's opinion and mine happened to mesh completely (as they often do) on this one. While he adds the extra praise that O.N.E. has once again provided the best packaged coconut water he has ever tasted, we both wish the mango flavor had been less dominant and that the coconut flavor had been stronger. But we'll give it a pass because it has electrolytes, and that's what plants crave!